Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Response to "Shitty First Drafts"

The essay named "Shitty First Drafts," by Anne Lamott, seems to persuade it's readers that it is okay to write really bad first drafts. Lamott even goes on to say that many great authors that we may look up also write terrible first drafts. Therefore, we cannot assume that we are all able to sit down at a computer and spontaneously start typing out genius material on the first go. Then Lamott explains what the first draft to many of us should look like, a messy collage of all of our thoughts written down on paper. There might be something amazing in that first draft or not. Then Lamott gives an example of a previous job she had.  he explains that she had trouble when she used to write reviews for a magazine and then realized that all she had to do was write that really bad first draft to gather ideas, and after, just look it over and re-write it
Lastly, she goes on to tell us how to relax ourselves while writing and make the most out of it.

I like the authors tone and how she tries to comfort us by saying that every good writer writes terrible first drafts and how she isn't any different. Lamott's tone sounds as if she knew that college students (or anyone who want to write well) would most likely be reading this. So, she tried to appeal to them by adding a tone with a sense of humor. I have one question: "Why does she sound so bossy?" The only thing I don't particularly like is that it seems almost as if she doesn't expect her readers to have any other way to go about writing drafts other than what she says near the end of the essay. Or perhaps, it feels like she is ordering her readers to use her suggestions.

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